


one step, two steps (come to me)

by 23seok



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Christmas Eve, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mentions of Other Voltron Paladins, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 04:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13159545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/23seok/pseuds/23seok
Summary: Lance never really thought he’d get here.Here. Earth. Home.“Lancito,” a voice breaks him out of his thoughts, and Lance turns to see warm eyes and the glint of teeth exposed in a small smile under the cover of night. Lance takes a breath before walking up the stairs and into his mother’s embrace. “You’re alright,Lancito. It’s over.”Lance’s eyes attempt to drift back to the skies. It’s over, his mamá told him. He stares into the void of space. It’s over, so why does he feel still so empty?





	one step, two steps (come to me)

**Author's Note:**

> title from "love is so nice" by jonghyun ♡
> 
> also sorry if the boys are slightly ooc i haven't written klance in 40 years so (paladin capitalized bc it's referring specifically to voltron)

Lance never really thought he’d get here.

Here. Earth. Home.

He runs his fingers along the smoothed wood of his childhood home’s staircase, the one that leads down to the beach, where as a kid he’d run down and out to the water, stumbling into the warmth before his mother could stop him. He lets out a breathy laugh, more like a quick exhalation of air, before turning his head up to the skies. Pidge left with Allura and Coran, so did Hunk, even though Lance knows he’ll be back. Pidge… he isn’t so sure about, but Hunk still has unfinished business that needs to be attended to. Unfinished business that even Hunk’s family encouraged him settling ( _quickly, though_ , Lance is sure they had told his best friend, _hurry right back!_ ). Shiro, Lance doesn’t know where he’s at anymore; tired eyes, worn-out, he deserves his rest. Lance is surprised they’ve all made it this far. All alive, all alright, as it should be. Except….

“ _Lancito_ ,” a voice breaks him out of his thoughts, and Lance turns to see warm eyes and the glint of teeth exposed in a small smile under the cover of night. Lance takes a breath before walking up the stairs and into his mother’s embrace. “You’re alright, _Lancito_. It’s over.”

Lance’s eyes attempt to drift back to the skies. It’s over, his mamá told him. He stares into the void of space. It’s over, so why does he feel still so empty?

 

 

When the months pass and the emptiness remains, he takes it as some form of PTSD, some side-effect of war and leaving the risky life of a Paladin so quickly. It’s a large shift, so of course he needs to get used to being back. Being a Paladin also took up a lot of his grow-up time, so this emptiness is just that loss.

His eyes remain glued to the stars, but he doesn’t miss it. He does _not_ miss being a Paladin.

 

 

It’s about a year after Voltron, after being a Paladin, and fighting, and space, and princesses and the like, when he meets _her_. Valentina is gorgeous, with long dark hair and longer legs and always with a witty remark on the tip of her tongue. She’s everything Lance used to dream about, but he doesn’t miss the way he thinks _used to_.

She’s as sweet as she is sharp, and he can picture introducing her to his parents, to his sister, to Andrés, and to Miguel. He can imagine it all, but at the same time he can’t imagine anything more than a kiss and goodbye.

They break up after a month, and it’s bittersweet.

 

 

A year and a half after Voltron comes Mark, and he’s cool and handsome and charming, and Lance thinks he has the potential to be _it_. He gets along well with Mamá, talks nice to Elena, shakes hands with his papá, checks off all his family’s boxes. And when he and Lance kiss, Lance knows there’s something _more_ , but that something more isn’t in their relationship, it’s in the stars, and Lance has to call it off, call everything off.

Mark yells, and Lance yells back, and Lance thinks of someone else who could yell twice as much, and that’s when he knows he’s done.

 

 

It’s nearing three years after Voltron, and Lance still watches the stars, now with steady eye and careful stance, sure of what he’s looking for and knowing it’s not coming.

Despite being Christmas Eve, the air is warm and humid with ocean salt, and Lance lowers his head to close his eyes. The steady rise and fall of the waves on the beach lulls him into a state of calm, and for a minute he takes it all in, where he is and who he is, what he knows and what he’s learnt. It’s all peaceful, and the emptiness resides within him still, but there’s more around it, there’s his family, there’s the messages from Pidge, the return of Hunk, the memories of time spent with Valentina, time with Mark, all of it, pushing on the borders of the emptiness, respecting its existence but refusing to let it spread, keeping Lance sane. He’s grateful.

“ _Lancito_ ,” his mamá says, like all those years ago when he had first returned. Lance lifts his head to turn and look at her. She’s aged, but she’s still so beautiful. Lance smiles at her. “ _Lancito_ ,” she repeats, and she smiles back, though it’s small, “there’s someone here to see you.”

He nods and turns to send one last look at the stars, hoping for it to be the last, before following his mom back up the stairs and into the house, where it’s overstuffed with people, immediate family and relatives visiting from other places, the States, Europe, the one who had a midlife crisis and booked the first flight to Japan, all of them here, together, and Lance feels another presence on the edge of the emptiness. It’s a warm comfort. He takes his mamá’s hand as she leads him through the crowd.

The front door is open, but people stand in front of it, talking and laughing, holding drinks or snacks in hand. Everyone loves his abuelita’s cooking, Lance knows. He smiles at them as he and his mother pass, and they smile back.

Finally, they arrive at the door, and Lance stops still at what ( _who_ ) he sees.

“Oh my God,” he breathes. “Oh my God, Mamá, oh my God.”

She laughs, but then she’s dropping his hand and walking away, and Lance decides there is no way in hell he can do this.

“Oh my God,” he sees, turning around and facing the congregation instead of the person outside. Rude, but showing up unannounced is maybe even more so.

“Lance,” they say.

“Nope, no, this conversation is _not_ happening,” Lance says, closing his eyes and plugging his ears with his index fingers.

“Lance,” they repeat, though muffled, and this time a hand reaches out to rest on his arm.

Lance drops the act.

“ _Keith_ ,” he breathes, spinning around and wrapping the other man up into a tight hug. “Oh my God, _Keith_.”

“Lance,” Keith says, much in the same way Lance said his name, arms coming up to squeeze tightly around Lance’s torso.

“Three years,” Lance murmurs into the elder’s ear, the angle he’s hugging the other at slightly awkward, but Lance is too choked up to care. “Three years.”

“I know,” Keith replies, his words coming as vibrations into Lance’s neck. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lance says, even though it’s not. “You’re here now.”

“Yeah,” Keith whispers.

Eventually, Lance pulls away. “Why?” is all he can find himself asking.

“There was more that had to be done,” Keith tells him. “I wanted to go—I tried to go, but there was a responsibility. It was… a lot, but it had to be done. I had things to do. The Blade had a lot more mess to clean compared to you guys.”

“That’s what you get for joining a secret Galran group,” Lance can’t help but tease.

Keith smiles, something soft and warm. “Yeah,” he agrees. “That’s what I get.” He places a hand on Lance’s shoulder before looking past the taller. “Is this all your family?”

Lance glances behind him, and his eyes drop to the hand on his shoulder before he faces Keith once again. “I’d say now it is, but there’s still five other people I’m missing.”

“What?” Keith asks, but then Lance’s words seem to dawn on him, and he’s laughing quietly, hand on Lance’s shoulder turning to a fist to lightly punch the other in the arm. “Lame,” he tells the other.

Lance smiles before stepping out the way for Keith to come inside. The elder does, and Lance finds himself asking about the specific things Keith had to do for the Marmorans.

“It only took us so long to clean up because there’s so much universe to cover,” Keith tells him when he’s finished. He pauses for a second before glancing to look up at Lance. “I heard about what happened.”

Oh. “Yeah,” Lance says. “I’m sorry.”

“Inhaled too much space dust, I guess,” Keith replies. “The worst part was not being able to come back.”

“Couldn’t say goodbye,” Lance agrees.

“Yeah,” Keith nods. “I think he was satisfied with his life, though. He did a lot. Saved a lot.”

Lance blinks, and his eyes drift over to a group of his younger cousins, all playing with Elena’s old dolls, calling them the Paladins and having to save space. Little actions like that were not a thing Lance could get used to.

“He’s probably lounging by a pool drinking piña coladas or something now,” Keith snorts, “and the drink’s got one of those stupid umbrellas in it.”

“Definitely,” Lance agrees. “Oh, and he’s got some shades on, super cool ones that probably cost a million bucks.”

“Oh, yeah,” Keith laughs, and Lance doesn’t imagine the way Keith’s hand brushes against his.

Lance takes it. Keith looks startled, but only for a second.

“I didn’t bring a gift,” Keith finally says after a pause.

“Don’t need one,” Lance replies, swallowing down the _you’re enough of a gift, anyways_ that threatens to escape his lips. “I don’t think half my family brought gifts either. It’s more about _who_ than _what_ , I guess.”

Lance feels Keith’s eyes on him when the other says _yeah_.

 

 

It’s a lot less like the teenage brotherhood Lance felt towards Keith this time around. (Though he probably should’ve guessed that with the whole hand-holding thing that happened when Keith first showed back up.) This time, there’s a lot more love and a whole lot of affection. It took a while, of course, because when Lance was growing up, Keith was growing, too, but Lance likes to think the aging was for the better. There’s something warmer now between them, the raging fire that had threatened to overtake them as kids now replaced with something softer, a fire that gives life rather than takes it. Lance likes it.

When Christmas rolls around the next year, Lance has moved out, finding a nice house down the road, still on the beach, sand filling the entry ways and sometimes the bed, the smell of sea salt filling the air when it’s not being overpowered by something cooking, and a steady variety of music always sounding out through the house.

Lance is fiddling with the music player now when a voice interrupts his actions.

“This is the third time I’ve had to wash the sheets this week,” Keith says, irritated, walking past Lance with an armful of bedsheets, “and for reasons that are less than good. Can’t you shower before you lay down?”

“I do!” Lance argues, looking up from the radio. “It just stays in your hair, you know this.”

Keith looks guilty for only a second before it’s back to arguing. “I’m not the one always in the ocean.”

“Maybe not, but you’re always trying to sleep in my bed, weirdo,” Lance remarks, moving to take some of the covers from the elder. “Either way, it’s pointless now. You know why?”

Keith sighs, glancing begrudgingly at the currently-open backdoor. “Because we’re in charge of Christmas Eve.” He looks back at Lance. “But just this year, okay?”

“Whatever,” Lance says, already beginning to walk off towards the laundry room.

Keith stares after him before shaking his head.

 

 

Never once when he was in space fighting an intergalactic war did Lance think he’d have a house to call his own, much less one that would host a Díaz Family Christmas Eve.

“Oh my God,” Keith says to Lance, sitting down at one of the bar stools. “There’s so many kids that are like teenage you. It’s like my worst nightmare… but worse.”

Lance laughs. “Look where we are now,” he teases.

“You keeping me captive here because I have no remaining relatives?” Keith asks.

Lance blinks before shaking his head. “Your humor is so weird.”

“And look where we are now,” Keith retorts, shooting Lance’s words back at him.

“Okay, okay,” Lance says. “You win.”

“Obviously,” Keith replies. “Is Hunk coming this year?”

Lance makes a face. “No. He’s been doing this here-away-here-away thing. Keeping balance between families, you know?”

“No, I don’t actually; no remaining relatives, remember?” Keith asks jokingly.

Lance groans. “You are the worst.”

Keith merely laughs, and it sounds so different from the tired one Lance had remembered from the teenaged alien-human-hybrid boy in space.

Lance sits up straight, staring at Keith. “Oh my God,” he says, sounding a bit like he did when Keith showed up at the door a year ago. “Oh my God, Keith.”

“What?” Keith asks, turning to look at the other.

“Oh my God,” Lance repeats.

Keith stares at him.

Lance shakes his head before his hands act on their own, coming up to clutch tightly at Keith’s biceps. “Oh my God,” he says one last time before his lips are crashing into Keith’s and Keith flails for a second before he shakes off Lance’s hands (which immediately drop to squeeze Keith’s waist) and his arms raise to wrap around Lance’s neck and pull him closer.

Lance pulls away after a grand two seconds of kissing. “Oh my _God_ ,” he whispers harshly.

“Yeah,” Keith agrees. “What was that?”

Lance lifts his gaze to look in Keith’s eyes. “I think I love you?”

Keith blinks, looking straight-up gobsmacked for a second before his features soften out. “Yeah. I get that. I love you, too.”

Lance stares at him before scooting closer and connecting their lips once more.

 

 

Despite a year passing and despite falling in love, they still have things to talk about, and Lance knows there’s still a long road ahead.

He finds himself outside again.

There’s a good moment where he stands there, watching the ocean, the way the waves crash on the sand; he supposes he spends too long staring at the water because, when he’s about to turn his gaze to the starry skies, Keith is calling his name, and Lance is brought back into the festivities.

This time, when family members smile at him, and Lance smiles back before he turns to Keith, only to see the elder also smiling at him, cheeks flushed, eyes warm, Lance feels a new presence, this time not on the edge of the emptiness but within it.

He blinks, cheerful expression dropping into something shocked, before Keith’s hand finds his, and Lance presses a quick kiss to the shorter’s cheek.

“Thanks,” he whispers when he pulls away.

“What for?” Keith asks.

Lance shakes his head. “Just… coming back, I guess. Brought things full circle.”

Keith glances back at the closed door before turning back to Lance. “Full circle. Yeah. I like that.”

Lance smiles, placing another kiss to Keith’s cheek before looking at the Christmas tree. “Get me a gift this year?”

Keith makes a face. “I thought it was about _who_ not _what_.”

“Sorry,” Lance says, “you’re not special anymore. The magic’s lost.”

Keith rolls his eyes, pulls Lance closer by the tight grip on his hand,  wraps the other in a tight hug. “You’ll get it tomorrow.”

Lance smiles. “I got it last year.”

Keith shoves him away this time, cheeks red, eyes staring determinedly away, but the smile on his lips betrays him. “Too much," he says. "That was too much.”

Lance laughs, without the emptiness, and next year, Lance knows, will manage to be even better.

**Author's Note:**

> this makes literally zero sense and is super weird and bad and also unedited lmao no surprise there so i'm sorry it sucks!!!! also i haven't written klance in a long-ass time rip but yeah y'all know i had to do a christmas fic (even if this wasn't strictly christmas-focused lmao) so yeah !!!! even if this sucks dick hope y'all enjoyed and thank u for reading!!!!!!
> 
> happy holidays everyone :"))))
> 
> (merry KLANCEmas OH MY GOD LMAOOO)


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